Pedal toppers

[i love sharin foo]

Confession: I previously thought those things were stupid and I didn’t like the way they looked.

Realization: They are actually very practical!

I almost always use flat pedalboards and I have multiple rows of stuff like Zvex that are all the same height. I also normally have boots on my feet or slippers. All of these make it difficult to stomp one pedal without hitting another one. Or even hit a switch period. I have way too much shit crammed on my boards. I bought a few packs of the cheap Mooer ones and put them on every pedal that had the right size switch. I color coded them as best I could too I still don’t LOVE the look but things are definitely easier with them.

[marqueemoon]

I use em. Gotta admit I mostly like the look, but they do improve accuracy a bit.

As a 90’s MTB kid I am a sucker for anodized aluminum.

[mynameisjonas]

I think they're really useful. For the past year or so (until last week) I had one non-Boss pedal on my board, and the pedals were pretty tightly spaced, so increasing the target area of the switch made a huge difference.

I suppose they add a slightly increased risk of accidentally damaging the switch, especially if you use metal ones with set screws, but I think it's worth it. Switches wear out eventually anyway, especially 3PDT ones.

[sessylU]

I also think they look terrible* but I can see how they might be useful. I'd worry that they would sit too proud for the lid of my pedalboard though.

My main issue is expression pedals. I have two expression pedals, plus a wah, plus a whammy on my board. I've located some of them close to each other in a "yes, let's put all these things over here, that makes sense" sort of decision, but it makes it tricky to get at things individually. I could split them, but then the pedals in between would be fiddly to get to. Might just resign myself to playing bare foot or in light slippers or plimsoles or something.

* - there's an interestingly weird, niche aesthetic here. We all like pretty boards, and we have things that give us the ick when looking at a board. But if you were to ask your average non-guitarist, they'd likely tell you that pedals are ugly, functional things that get stamped on, and that they all look more or less the same. I wonder about how our tastes are formed and why we end up with strong opinions on things like knobs, blocks and/or binding, headstock fonts etc. I wonder how changeable these are. When I was 13, I only cared where a guitar fell on the "does it look cool as fuck: yes/no" binary, now I fret over all this bullshit and I'll dislike a guitar because you wouldn't have seen that colour scheme with that bridge back when these were first made. I wonder if in five years time I will turn my nose up at pedalboards that don't have every pedal topped with an attractive yet functional colour scheme.

[Jonesie]

I use some on a Maneco Sweet16 16 Second Delay clone. I keep the pedal on a table next to me so I can go full Nels when needed, and it helps to hit bigger / softer switches.

[zhivago]

I'm with you guys, I think they look a bit on the goofy side, but I am pretty tempted to buy some too for a couple of back row pedals on my board.

[MechaBulletBill]

plain metal ones look good on oversized pedals like sovtek muffs or something, but they can scuff the finish of the pedal underneath. ask me how i know!

[Jaguar018]

ask me how i know!

How do you know?

[MayTheFuzzBeWithYou]

I had them on about every pedal some years ago. And liked them for playing barefoot/with socks. No real difference with shoes (at least not for me).

Somehow they all vanished over the last three years (because I needed to check on something/had to remove the switch) - last on my (now sold) DBA Super Fuzz War (had them matching in black and blue). And never managed to get it off the Acapulco Gold ever again - just wouldn‘t go off - so I let the buyer handle it.

[cestlamort]

I understand the functionality but they seem to be an affront to the utilitarian design of pedals (especially when they're all different colors etc).

That said, I did need to make one switch a little higher in one pedal configuration. I just cut a wine cork in half and used that as a switch topper. Maybe funnier to me than anyone else but I think it did make the pedal sound a little better. sniff.

[marqueemoon]

Maybe funnier to me than anyone else but I think it did make the pedal sound a little better. sniff.

Polishing off a bottle of wine so you can use the cork makes everything sound better.

[cestlamort]

Maybe funnier to me than anyone else but I think it did make the pedal sound a little better. sniff.

Polishing off a bottle of wine so you can use the cork makes everything sound better.

We all gotta suffer for our art

[i love sharin foo]

* - there's an interestingly weird, niche aesthetic here.

I’m like that too, with many things. I am almost incapable of liking a Fender guitar unless it has vintage specs for instance. A Les Paul Jr HAS to have a wrap around tailpiece. Les Paul’s gotta be either sunburst, gold, or black. Maybe white IF it’s a Custom I really didn’t want to like these pedal toppers They are working out nicely though. For the $25 investment and the fact they aren’t permanent makes me feel better.

[PJazzmaster]

I am more in the pedal riser camp.
They make more sense for my needs:
Pedal Riser

[fuzzjunkie]

I am more in the pedal riser camp.
They make more sense for my needs:
Pedal Riser

I just bolted a Pedaltrain Nano to my main board for the back row. It’s quick release so it can double as my smaller gig bag board. And it came with a gig bag to toss it in.